Statistical Analysis of Gel Electrophoresis Data

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) methods such as two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE; O’Farrell (1975)) and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE; Ünlü et al. (1997)) are popular techniques for protein separation because they allow researchers to characterize quantitative protein changes on a large scale. Thus, 2-DE is frequently used as an initial screening procedure whereby results obtained generate scientific ideas for study. These technologies revolutionized the field of proteomics and biomarker discovery in their ability to detect protein changes either in differential expression or modification (Huang et al., 2006; Rai & Chan, 2004; Wulfkuhle et al., 2003; Zhou et al., 2002). Further, they are attractive because of their resolving power and sensitivity. 2-DE analyses, however, require personnel with significant wet laboratory expertise and can be time-consuming, thus potentially limiting the sample size for gels.